Company:
Ethlas
Deliverable:
Gambit Finance Responsive Web App
Role:
Senior UI/UX Designer
Timeframe:
3 months (v1.0); 1 month (v.2.0)
Overview
Building a gamified trading platform where esports players and teams are tokenised into tradable assets—turning fandom into financial upside.
Engineered a fully responsive, data-rich web app that fuses the thrill of gaming with the functionality of a crypto exchange, delivering smooth UX flows across onboarding, dashboards, and portfolio management.
Helped attract thousands of traders, lift conversions, and keep users coming back to speculate, invest, and win.
The Opportunity:
From Games to Gains
Ethlas has always been about building Web3 games and making blockchain gaming more accessible. But while developing Battle Showdown: Gambit, a PvP multiplayer platform shooter, our team saw a bigger play. Why just watch esports when you can invest in it?
We integrated Ethlas’ cryptocurrency (ELS) as the platform’s currency and transformed the concept into a fractionalised investment experience, where fans could buy shares in their favourite esports athletes—opening up a new revenue stream and giving both players and fans a way to grow with the esports ecosystem.
Challenges & Iterations — From v1.0 to v2.0
As Ethlas’ senior UI/UX designer for the gaming division, I led the end-to-end product design and development from scratch to v1.0 launch, blending the speed and hype of esports with the credibility of a trading platform. The challenge? Make something chaotic feel clean. Make something fun feel financially sound.
Shortly after v1.0 launch, we sprinted into v2.0, revamping the onboarding experience, sharpening the presentation of Gambit Finance’s value proposition at key user touchpoints, driving a full platform rebrand to position Gambit Finance for broader visibility through a high-profile Dota 2 partnership, and fast-tracking the release to coincide with the highly anticipated The International 2024 (Dota 2 Tournament).
Design Approach
01 // Discovery & Research
While planning for v.1.0, I studied crypto exchanges, trading platforms, financial apps, and esports data sites to understand both visual hierarchy and functional design, drawing inspiration from platforms like SAXO, Binance, Coinbase, and Shards.
Ahead of v2.0, I curated and prioritised user feedback from Discord and X and explored platforms like Polymarket (a cryptocurrency-based prediction market) to experiment with alternative data visualisations that create urgency and drive community-based decision-making (FOMO-driven UI).
02 // Design & Build
Key moves:
Designed and launched a fully responsive app for desktop and mobile.
Built intuitive dashboards and gamified trading flows (buy/sell, portfolios, points farming).
Integrated live match data and dynamic player stats to support real-time decision-making.
Created SCW-based account abstraction to simplify wallet setup. (simply sign-in via Google/X, no wallet needed.)
Optimised fiat on/off-ramp flows to reduce token top-up drop-off.
Led a full platform rebrand with a sharper esports-forward design and a more futuristic colour palette.
Created campaign assets and visuals for major partners: Dota 2, Tundra Esports, and key KOLs.
Outcomes & Impact
The Gambit Finance v1.0 launch attracted 250+ traders, 120K transactions, and USD500K+ trading volume within the first month.
V2.0’s new look and features increased sign-ups by 40%, reduced bounce rate by 15%, and decreased token top-up abandonment by 30%.
6 months in, the platform has attracted 6,000+ unique traders (avg. USD500 LTV), processed USD5M+ in trading volume (with top asset traded at USD110K), and was recognised as a Top #3 project on BASE (by TVL) on DappRadar.
Key Takeaways
Building trust is everything, especially when real money is on the line. Clear competition rules and seamless UX go a long way in building confidence among users and investors.
There’s still so much to play at the edge of gaming, fintech, and Web3/blockchain — and I’m here for it!